George Anson (General, 1797)

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Shugborough Hall , home of the Anson family in the 1820s

George Anson CB (born October 13, 1797 , † May 27, 1857 in Karnal ) was a British general , Commander in Chief in India and politician of the Whig Party.

family

George Anson was the second son of seven children of Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson (1767-1818) and his wife Anne Margaret, daughter of Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (1754-1842) from Norfolk.

His older brother Thomas William Anson (1794-1854) became the 1st Earl of Lichfild in the third award in 1831. Other siblings were Charles Littleton Anson († 1812), Anna Margaret Anson († 1882), Frances Elizabeth († 1899), Frederica Sophia (1814-1867) and Elizabeth Jane Anson († 1894). He received his education at Eton College . In 1830 he married Isabella Elizabeth Annabella († 1858), daughter of Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester (1767–1828), with whom he had three daughters: Isabella Maria Katherine Anson († 1922), Alice Louisa Anson († 1879) ) and Geraldine Georgiana Mary Anson (1844 [?] - 1927). His wife Isabella followed him to British India in 1853 .

Anson was a noted owner of racehorses. He won the Epsom Derby with Attila in 1842 and the Epsom Oaks with The Princess two years later.

Start of the military career

As early as 1814 he began his military career and joined the 3rd British Infantry Regiment (3rd Guards, Scots Fusiliers), today's Scots Guards , and, at the age of 17, fought with his regiment on June 18, 1815 in the Battle of Waterloo . By 1825 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel .

Start of political career

At the same time, his political career began in 1818 as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons , initially from February 11, 1819 to 1835 as a representative for Great Yarmouth , from 1836 to 1837 for Stoke-upon-Trent and 1837 to 1853 for South Staffordshire . Under Lord Melbourne in 1835 he entered the field witness office as "Storekeeper of the Ordnance". In 1841, and again under Lord John Russell, he held the office of Clerk of the Ordnance from 1846 to 1852. Politically he belonged to the Whigs .

British India and the Sepoy Uprising

By 1853 he had already reached the rank of major general. In 1853 he was after British India shifted to a Bengali to command division, in 1854 took over the army command for the Presidency of Madras (Madras Presidency) and was identified as Lieutenant General in the spring of 1856, Commander in Chief for India. He was also from December 12, 1856 Colonel of Westmorland Infantry Regiment No. 55  (55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot).

Anson became late nor military or military logistical importance when he on 12 May 1857 its station location Shimla (Simla) in the North West Frontier Province (North-West Frontier Province) from the start of the riots in Meerut (Meerut, mutiny ) and Delhi and the related siege of Delhi was notified. In the suppression of the Sepoy uprising , he would have played an important role as Commander-in-Chief. In the border province, the troops made up of Europeans, Gurkhas (Ghoorka) and local contingents were distributed over various locations, they were above all inadequately equipped, the transport routes to Delhi had been neglected for cost reasons, and according to Charles Ball's “The history of the Indian Mutiny ”is hated by the local regiments. Nevertheless, he first set out from Shimla to Ambala (Umballa, also: Umballah) in order to assemble all troops by May 30, 1857 in Kurnaul, today's Karnal. On June 1, 1856, the siege of Delhi was to be lifted from there. General Anson did not live to see this because he died of cholera on May 27, 1857 at the age of 59 in Kurnaul . Successor was by order of June 5, 1857 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Somerset (1794-1862).

First buried at a local church, Anson was later transferred to England and buried in Kensal Green Cemetery .

literature

  • Alexander John Arbuthnot: Anson, George, 1797-1857. In: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. (DNB). Volume 2. ( Online text from the English Wikisource )
  • Hart's Army List
  • Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. 107th edition. 3 volumes Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington, Delaware, USA 2003, Volume 1, p. 1465, Volume 2, p. 1987, 2324-2325.
  • The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. New edition 1910–1959; Reprint in 6 volumes. Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester, UK 2000, Vol. 2, p. 329.
  • Annual Register for 1857
  • Fortnightly Review , April 1883
  • John William Kaye : History of the Sepoy War in India. 3 volumes. Allen, London 1864-76.
  • Charles Ball: The history of the Indian mutiny: giving a detailed account of the Sepoy insurrection in India. The London Printing and Publishing Company, London 1860, Volume 2, Chapter 11, pp. 185-192. ( Full view, Google book , biographical information p. 191)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maj. Gen. The Hon. George Anson on thepeerage.com , accessed September 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ Leigh Rayment, Great Yarmouth ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed May 13, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.leighrayment.com
  3. ^ Ball, History, Volume 2, p. 186
personal data
SURNAME Anson, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British General, Commander in Chief in India and Whig Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1797
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1857
Place of death Karnal